Crochet Saturday: Designing a Doctor Who Potholder

So my friend Don has these totally amazing Doctor Who demitoss cups. After I admired them on Facebook, she sent me this picture.

Time lords preserve us. Bow ties are cool, but these are even cooler – ESPECIALLY in this insanely great box.

Maybe it was the six or seven separate and discrete times I looked at this picture, but suddenly, my kitchen seemed pointless and devoid of all meaning.

What I wrote to Don about her picture. 4:00pm.

Hey, I thought. I know. I will crochet myself a Doctor Who potholder! If I may quote Reese Witherspoon from Legally Blonde, “What, like it’s hard?”

Yeah, that’s the part I always forget. It IS hard. Portraiture in yarn is hard. Witness the transformation from start to finish – and that’s assuming I’m finished. That’s not a safe assumption.

5:00pm. Hm. Does this look like The Silence? Hey, 15-year-old son who also likes Doctor Who! Does this look like The Silence?

Add some shading, Mom. That will make it look more like The Silence.

8:30pm. Wait, I could just do a head! And I could add flaps to it! YES! Let’s go to yarn! This is the nerve-wracking part, because the design looks very different in fiber than it does on paper.

11:00pm. Oh dear god. That nose looks like mangled yarnburger. And who’s using this potholder, a toddler?! This is the future, where we all have personal chefs who are toddlers? We need to go much bigger!

2:00am. How about this? This is bigger! This is pretty good, right?

5:00am. Not finished, but as a prototype, I’m happy. Or I’m hallucinating that I’m happy. I’m now 13 hours post-idea.

I think this is the version I will eventually release. I think. But I have to test it again. I am 36 hours post-idea.

After this, I will swear off potholders and charts for at least a month. But as time passes, as I forget all of these pains, I am almost assuredly going to wind up making more Doctor Who villains.